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CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 1 CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS BMB 515: Berklee Online Music Business Structure and Strategies Dr. Chandler Coyle Abstract Our team has currently taken on the role of artist manager to a rather successful, yet new, artist on the scene. This artist is often compared to Alicia Keys in many aspects and seems to be

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 2 on a similar career trajectory as Keys. Because of this, it is beneficial for us to study Keys’ routine and life path to fame and success in order to accurately and efficiently manage our client. As a new artist, it is extremely important for us as the management to help nurture and grow them in order to gain more success, popularity, and leverage while maintaining an authentic presence in the music market. By taking examples from Alicia Keys’ work/life balance, artists branding, activism, and career altering opportunities, as well as the hard work her managers put in marketing her, we can create plans and strategies that will allow us to manage our artist in a way that they can continue their path of advancement without having to suffer through as many pitfalls and setbacks, as well as help them build a unique image that helps to fully realize them as their own artist. Case Study: Alicia Keys Alicia Keys started her musical journey in her childhood years, where she was fortunate enough to start taking piano lessons at the age of seven despite her living situation. Keys was

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 3 able to study classical music for the next ten years of her life, which ultimately influenced her unique style; a mashup of classical and urban hip-hop sounds that have made her a unique household name. Her constant love for learning how to read and compose music for the piano strengthened her ability to hear harmonies and melodies, leading once again to her spending time practicing her singing, alone and with local girl groups (Groysberg et al., 2019). This extraordinary blend of talent brought her attention from brothers Conrad and Jeff Robinson, and they eventually began managing her at the age of 15, helping her sign record deals with Columbia Records. As her trusted manager, Jeff Robinson made sure to instill important values of self-assurance, respect, and control within her from early on in her career in order to help her grow as a person and as a successful artist. Unfortunately, due to Keys’ unique style and music compared to other artists of her background at the time, her creative vision was not taken seriously by Columbia Records, and she eventually parted ways with the label. By 1998, Robinson helped Keys come into contact with the President of Arista Records, Clive Davis, where she was given a new record deal and unwavering respect for her artistic vision, then continued on with Davis after he was let go and started up a new record label called J Records (Groysberg et al., 2019). The time and dedication that Alicia and Jeff gave to her career in the early stages continued throughout her career to help build the platform that she has now. She did not experience a smooth transition into stardom and was often hit with devastating blows to her determination after being promised success multiple times, however, Keys and her team stayed committed to her vision and dream and plowed ahead. Her first release in 2001, titled “Fallin’”, almost crashed and burned, however, Robinson and Davis fought to have her voice heard,

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CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 4 reaching out to Oprah Winfrey to have Alicia appear on her show and perform the song, causing it to hit a complete 180 and dominate radio shows (Groysberg et al., 2019). Seeing important figures like Jeff Robinson and Clive Davis take on the responsibility of uplifting a newer artist like Alicia Keys at the time is a good way to study how to work as an amazing manager for artists. This job role requires you to have faith in the process and in the person creating art, no matter how useless it may seem at first. The trust that Alicia had in these figures at the start of her career is reflected in the trust her managers had in her and her vision. Studying Alicia’s case and how her and her managers overcame adversity can give us insight on how to better manage our own artist and uplift them on their journey to success. Work/Life Balance Maintaining a healthy work/life balance is crucial in any industry. When it comes to the music industry, artists and singer-songwriters can face serious burnout and writer’s block when they don’t get a break. The bigger an artist gets, the more interviews, promotions, and projects they are wanted in will increase. Artists like Alicia Keys have reflected on their experience with burnout and how it can affect their work-life balance. As Keys got more famous, she was tired and overworked, doing interviews back-to-back and flying to a different place every day (Groysberg et al ., 2019). She eventually took a trip to Egypt, and reflected on herself as a person and as an artist. The trip had such an impact on her that she named her first child Egypt. It was a much needed break before she got back to working on her music.

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 5 Since 2005, Alicia Keys has taken multiple trips to Egypt and taken her family along as well. To ensure that our artist is not experiencing burnout and maintaining a healthy balance between work and life, it is important to set certain days aside where the artist is free to decide whether they want to participate in an interview/performance/recording session or just take a break. Perhaps a few days each month where the artist is able to relax and spend time with loved ones. This will become more difficult as the artist grows in popularity but making decisions on what work is absolutely necessary and what work can stand to wait a while is a good way to structure a hectic schedule. Artist burnout can be defined as not feeling creative enough, anxious, overwhelmed, and fatigue both physically and emotionally (McNab, 2023). Besides the artists themselves, managers are also responsible for looking out for their clients general well-being and health. Artists need to be at their best to perform and create new content for their fans so making sure the risk of burnout is low is vital to both of their success. Scheduling time for artists to get to see their loved ones, travel for fun, and rest their creative minds will lessen the risk of burnout. It might not be possible to schedule this time on a weekly basis but a few days a month should be plausible. Short-term wise, the artist would look forward to these breaks and hopefully see them as motivation to work hard so they can relax later. In the long-term, with a mental break people are able to come back better than ever once they have had time to reflect. Alicia Keys took so

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 6 many lessons from her trip to Egypt that she incorporated into her life and schedule. She then continued to release chart-topping records. It is safe to say that everyone needs breaks in order to reset, and we would ensure that our artist gets them. Artist branding/Artistic Vision Creating a strong and authentic brand identity is vital for artists to stand out in the competitive industry. It represents who they are, their values, artistic vision, and unique qualities that make them special from other artists. An artist’s brand identity can also help them develop a deeper connection with their audiences to build a loyal fanbase. Showing who they truly are and their vision as artists can help build trust and loyalty among fans. As Daniel Åberg (as cited in Amuse, n.d.) said, “If you try to create a brand that is vastly different from who you are as an artist, it will be nearly impossible to make someone believe and buy into it.” Not only would it cause the artist to lose themselves to constantly put on an act to sustain the image of who they are not, but audiences can easily recognize it when the artist is genuine or not. When fans notice that the artist they support is not who they actually are, it will decrease fans. As the contract allows the artist to have complete aesthetic control for their next album, it is the perfect opportunity for them to rebuild their brand identity to resemble exactly who they are. The artist needs to take a minute to focus on who they are, what their vision and goals are as an artist, what their brand values are, and how they want to represent themselves in the eyes of their target audiences. While it seems like simple questions, it can be difficult as they have no control over their brand and work. Once the artist discovered themselves, they should recognize what genre of music they want to focus on for the album. The artist does not have to restrict themselves to one or two genres. Like Alicia Keys, Taylor Swift, and Miley Cyrus, the artist can explore different music genres to enhance creativity and broaden their musical horizon, but

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CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 7 essentially, they need to accent their music, merchandise, outfits, and hairstyle in a way that connects to the genre of the music and resonates with their vision, identity, and personality. The artist can use special lyrics from their music or design iconic artwork that best represents their music and themselves for their merch so fans can feel the connection when they are holding it. The stage outfits and hairstyles should be designed to fit with the music concept as they complement each other to create a memorable and unique image for the audiences when they hear the song. Most importantly, the artist should feel comfortable and confident in the outfits and hairstyles to fully shine on stage. Moreover, the artist should be open and honest with their fans. Whether it is within the lyrics of their music or engagement with their fans, they should share their personal stories, experiences, emotions, and struggles about how they found their identity and passion to create a sense of empathy, understanding, and feelings with their audiences, especially if the fans have been through similar experiences. Developing a brand identity that reflects the artist’s genuine personality, values, vision, styles, and music is the key to attract audiences, grow a loyal fanbase, and shine in a competitive industry. Activism As artists continue to grow in their musical careers and as contributing members of society, it’s only natural that most would use their platform to voice their opinions on social issues that directly affect them or the people around them. Many artists are spurred into action after witnessing events that alter their points of view and they take the next steps to help mitigate those problems for a better future. Alicia Keys started her activist path in 2003 when she founded the nonprofit organization, “Keep a Child Alive”, with friend Leigh Blake (Groysberg et al., 2019). After participating in MTV’s “Staying Alive Initiative” in South Africa for HIV awareness and prevention, and visiting clinics/homes for children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 8 crisis, Keys became moved and “couldn’t pretend that her eyes hadn’t been opened”, and decided that “we as a global community could not forget or neglect them” (Groysberg et al., 2019). “Keep a Child Alive” was thus created in order to raise money and support families affected by HIV/AIDS in countries like Kenya, India, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa (Groysberg et al., 2019). Of course, Key’s activism did not stop at the creation of one organization. Shortly after 2014, many world tragedies began to flood news stations more than previously, starting from unjust police brutality to tragic conflicts between nations. The high volume of devastating news stories that were being reported eventually brought Keys to a breaking point as it did many others, however, she once again decided to use her fame and platform to bring more awareness to these global problems and help provide support for those who were directly affected. She promptly started the social media movement, “We are Here”, to focus on social justice issues of all types, all over the world, ranging from LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice and female empowerment to eliminating global poverty (Groysberg et al., 2019). Image of “We are Here” single by Alicia Keys. To solidify and bring more attention to these causes, she made sure to involve her music and her physical appearance, releasing a song called “We are Here” and famously posting a partially

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 9 nude photo with a peace sign over her pregnant stomach to cause shock value and increase viewership (Groysberg et al., 2019). Because of her activism, Alicia Keys has gained more followers and fans who otherwise would have not discovered her music alone, which is a call back to the idea of marketing towards specific demographics and psychographics. However, despite her good work, activism can have alternate or negative outcomes depending on what is being protested/advocated for and how certain people view those topics. Keys points out that some can view activism as “preachy” and believe that it detracts from an artist’s music, but in reality, artists like Keys simply want to “affect people on an emotional level” (Groysberg et al., 2019). Additionally, artists can experience losing waves of once dedicated fans after they start activism, because their politics will be revealed through what they protest and advocate for, and those fundamentals may not align with what their fans believe in. Artists can of course view this as a great situation as well because it means their fan base is no longer filled with people who do not believe in or cherish the same ideals and values as they do. Our client, who is similar to Alicia Keys in many aspects, has also followed in her footsteps as an outspoken leader for political discussions and social issues. As a new artist who is reaping the benefits of their first success, it would be ideal to hold off on charged discussions until they have solidified their footing in the industry and have the leverage to support and back up their voice as well as grow their fanbase a little more. However, as a human being, it is their very right to still use their new platform for the messages they want to send. As an artist manager to this new client, we would have already made sure to connect on a deeper level than just business and shared our values and ideals to make sure that we are compatible to work together. Otherwise, it would be a bad idea and disrupt the work relationship if we allowed for our artist to

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CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 10 abuse their platform with messages we do not agree with. In addition to supporting our artist in their activism, we would remain candid and straightforward on how we view their progress, making sure they are fully educated on issues they wish to speak on so they do not accidentally ruin their reputation with misinformation. Moreover, this would be an excellent way for our artist to market themselves to specific demographics and psychographics, creating a fanbase that shares our same values. Opportunities Outside Recording and Performing As our client's manager, I would recommend that she accept the judging role with The Voice as long as she agrees with us that it is aligned with her personal values and the direction she sees her career going in. While the role of a judge and mentor on a TV talent show like The Voice would require re-prioritizing any existing career plans and projects, it has the potential to elevate or even reinvent her image with the public, bringing new attention to her growing catalog of hits and amplifying attention towards any new releases. Taking on a mentorship role in a reality talent competition show does not necessarily mean a pause in our client’s independent work. With proper alignment between her personal brand, the show, and her work, it could result in reinventing her career and growing her legacy as an artist. When two of the original judges of The Voice left in 2013, they cited wanting to focus on their independent music (Wood, 2013). Despite this, the more prolific and successful of the original judges that year were the two that stayed on the show - Adam Levine and Blake Shelton - suggesting that "maybe brand synergy matters more these days than artistic dedication" (Wood, 2013). In a single week of 2013, Blake Shelton was premiering a new season of The Voice and releasing his latest album, stating "I'm the luckiest guy in the world right now".

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 11 Jennifer Lopez's career went from "slowly fading from the public eye to catapulting back into pop culture-sphere" due to her stint as a judge on American Idol , which reached around 23 million viewers per episode despite being viewed as a flop (Yahr, Emily). In 2011, she relaunched her music career, debuting her latest single "On the Floor" on American Idol and was subsequently declared as "back" (Stransky, 2011). In my opinion, a judging position on The Voice would give our client an opportunity for a wide audience to get to know her better as an artist, a mentor, and a person in a way that music releases alone would not. Judges on the show can be perceived with a certain level of respect, and would give our client the chance to show who and what she believes in when it comes to artistry in others and her own advice as a judge. It also opens her up to a world of new connections and networks, which can help create and promote her next release. It would be critical for our client and her team to continually assess whether continuing to be a part of The Voice is still a good fit for her career - the reputation of the show and the quality of alternative opportunities should continue to make sense for her trajectory. For example, giving up the offer of a prestigious Los Angeles residency to take part in a fourth season of The Voice may not align with her career path. If this opportunity were not The Voice but were instead a less reputable opportunity, I would be cautious to recommend it, since the risks increase the more mismatched the role is with her level of prominence. While we may want to support an underdog producer or a new endeavor, our client’s reputation is at stake if the production doesn't go well. Further, if the event or team does not have experience working with stars growing at the rate of our client, they may underestimate demand which could lead to safety concerns for the artist or just a poor experience for all. Our client’s reputation is one of her greatest assets, so it should be protected as such.

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 12 Overall, there are more pros than cons when considering whether our artist should join the judging panel of The Voice . If aligned correctly, the show could actually be a great showcase for her future individual works, and can help build her legacy status in the music industry. Conclusion Alicia Keys’ rise to fame is a story of underdogs rising despite the circumstances and resources afforded to them and has been utilized as a playbook for our own artist and their potential life-long success. Working as an artist manager requires us to not only be business partners to our client, but friends, family, and fans wrapped into one. Making sure our artist is happy, healthy, listened to, and well adjusted is the difference between being a great manager and a manager that is only in it for the potential payouts. Helping to secure a beneficial work/life balance for our artist is essential for their creative process and making sure they have the energy to keep moving forward in their career. Advocating for their voice and giving them authority over their artistic identity is the next step in doing a great job as a manager and lets our client maintain an authentic and honest face when meeting fan expectations. Additionally, letting our artist use their platform to bring awareness to issues they care about not only reinforces their creative individuality, but it also solidifies their standing in social issues and helps them find a more invested audience. Lastly, helping to provide and advise our artist about which non-musical opportunities to choose leads directly to how their career will be boosted and how they will leave their mark on the industry.

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CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 13 References Amuse. (n.d.). How to brand yourself as an artist. Amuse. https://www.amuse.io/en/content/how-to-brand-yourself-as-a-music-artist/ Ewmoda. (2018, September 2). Style On Tour: Alicia Keys travels to Egypt . https://www.expatwoman.com/ewmoda/travel/style-tour-alicia-keys-travels-egypt Groysberg, B., Lobb, A., & Mehta, S. (2019). Alicia Keys . Harvard Business Publishing Education. https://hbsp.harvard.edu/download?url=%2Fcourses%2F1058971%2Fitems %2F420033-PDF-ENG%2Fcontent&metadata=e30%3D Mansfield, Brian. (March 24, 2013). Blake Shelton raises his voice with 'True Story'. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/03/24/blake-shelton-true-story- voice/2012829/ . McNab, S. (2023, January 27). Creative burnout & improving artist mental health . Sketch Design Repeat. https://sketchdesignrepeat.com/creative-burnout-improving-artist-mental- health/#:~:text=This%20state%20of%20not%20feeling Stransky, Tanner. (March 3, 2011). Jennifer Lopez debuts "On the Floor" video on 'American Idol': watch it here . Entertainment Weekly. https://ew.com/article/2011/03/03/jennifer- lopez-on-the-floor-music-video/ . Wood, Mikael. (March 26, 2013). Album review: Blake Shelton's 'Based on a True Story…'". Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-xpm-2013-mar-26-la- et-ms-album-review-blake-sheltons-based-on-a-true-story-20130326-story.html . Yahr, Emily. (June 17, 2014). Reality TV saved Jennifer Lopez's career: A case study. The Washington Post.

CASE STUDY: ALICIA KEYS 14 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2014/06/17/reality-tv- saved-jennifer-lopezs-career-a-case-study/ .

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